A checklist of the ichthyofauna from La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, México

Abstract

A systematic checklist of fishes in La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve (REBIEN) was documented, during the period from 2004 to 2009. The systematic list is composed by 153 species, included in two classes, 20 orders, 52 families and 107 genera. A total of nine are added to continental environments of Chiapas, four are registered by first time in estuarine-lagoon environments of México (Cathorops cf. fuerthii, Trichiurus nitens, Guavina micropus and Gobionellus liolepis), the last two species extended their range of distribution in the Mexican Pacific; also emphasized the presence of the exotic Oreochromis niloticus. The best represented families are Carangidae (14 species), Sciaenidae (11), Gobiidae (10), Ariidae (9), Poeciliidae and Engraulidae both with six. By their origin, 2.6% (4) are freshwater primary species; 8.5% (13) freshwater secondary, and 88.9% (134) peripheral; these last by ecological affinity, 2% (3) are catadromous; 7.2% (11) estuarine residents; 36.6% (56) marine euryhalines and 43.1% (66) marine stenohalines. Comparatively with others regions of the Mexican Pacific the REBIEN contains the highest fish richness than other estuarine-lagoon systems along this slope.